


A Day in the Limelight

by RoyHankins



Series: The Background Ponies [1]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-28
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 09:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6233308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoyHankins/pseuds/RoyHankins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to the many times they have saved both Ponyville and Equestria, the Mane 6 is getting a weekend vacation, all expenses payed, from the town. When something attacks the town, it's up to the minor characters to save the townsfolk and themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stage is Set

It was 4:45 AM, and the first vestiges of sunlight were tracing through the window and onto Derpy Hooves’s head. Most ponies, including her roommate Carrot Top, were confounded by the fact that Derpy woke up at exactly 4:45 AM every morning. It was especially confounding because the mare didn’t own an alarm clock. To Derpy, it made perfect sense. She woke up at 4:45 AM because it gave her time to get up, eat a muffin, grab her mailbag, and head out to deliver letters.

As the mailmare shook her head, the tiny vestiges of last night’s dream already slipping away, she looked across the room. There lay a Dinky, sleeping quietly with her straw-colored mane spread across the pillow. On the ground near Dinky’s bed was a small sleeping bag, with another sleeping unicorn foal inside it. Derpy smiled as she looked at her daughter and little Ruby Pinch snoozing the morning after their sleep-over. It was good to make friends.

With that thought, the odd-eyed pegasus walked into the hall, making sure not to disturb the sleep of the two fillies. She closed the door quietly, then looked into the open doorway of the room next to hers. Inside slept Carrot Top. Derpy was so glad that Carrot Top was such a good friend. When Carrot had found out that Derpy and her children didn’t have a home, she immediately gave them room and board. The pegasus knew that it had been hard on her friend at times, but hoped that with those struggles there was also wonderful moments as well.

As she sat eating her breakfast muffin, Derpy was reminded of somepony. It was a banana-flavored muffin. His favorite. Derpy put her mailbag on and walked out the door. She shivered immediately. The fall was starting, and the days were getting chillier and shorter. She walked through the carrot garden in front of their house, turned to her left, and walked up to their neighbor’s door.

Octavia awoke to the sound of Johoof Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No.1. It started off quiet enough to ignore, but it slowly got louder. Why in Equestria did I choose this as my alarm? she thought. Oh, that’s right, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad thing to wake up to. I was sorely mistaken. Her right hoof slammed down on the snooze button, most likely a little harder than was necessary. The grey mare snuggled against her pillow, trying to shut out her thoughts and go back to sleep. A loud knocking came from the front of the home in three short bursts.

The cellist sighed and got out of her bed. She guessed this day would be starting particularly early. She went into the bathroom, brushed her hair as quickly as she could, put on her signature bow tie, and headed out to the front door. As she walked she pondered, Who could be here at this unseemly hour? When she opened the door, she found a familiar grey pegasus with mail in her mouth.

“Hey there, neighbor! Here’s your mail!” Derpy said in a cheerful tone. Octavia smiled, though she thought it barely resembled one given how tired she was.

“Why thank you, Derpy. Why’re you delivering our mail so early? Usually we don’t get our mail until around noon.” It wasn’t that Octavia wasn’t thankful, of course. Getting her mail this early meant she could take care of all of it before Vinyl even woke up. Then again, even when it was delivered by the regular schedule, half the time her roommate would still be asleep anyway. Octavia had her doubts that Vinyl Scratch had ever even seen a morning before.

Derpy laughed, then replied, “Well, that huge event is today, so I’m trying to deliver the mail as fast as I can so I can go with Carrot. You live next door, so I thought I’d deliver your mail first.”

Octavia’s smile brightened. “That’s very kind of you. How’re your daughters doing?”

Derpy puffed up her chest. “Amethyst is almost done with her second semester at college! I’ve gotten several incredible reports from her teachers! Dinky and I still miss her, but I’m so happy she’s doing well! Dinky is doing good in school as well, and has really made friends with little Ruby.”

“Really? That’s amazing. Well, as you said you have a busy day ahead of you and I wouldn’t want to stall you,” the earth pony said.

“Good point, I better head out. Say ‘Hi!’ to Vinyl for me!” the pegasus said happily.

“Oh, I will, five minutes before the event when she wakes up.” The two mares chuckled a little at her jab, and the mailmare walked away to the next house over. Octavia shut the door and set the mail on the table before going through it. “Let’s see what we have here: hate mail for Vinyl, electricity bill, fan mail for Vinyl, hate mail for Vinyl, water bill, hate mail for Vinyl, bills for the parts Vinyl ordered, fan mail for me, hate mail for Vinyl, and two invitations for today’s event.” She sorted the mail: one pile for the bills, directly in front of her; one pile for the fan and hate mail, to the right; and the two’s invitations, off to the left. Octavia sighed and said, “Well, time to figure out how many bits we’re out this month.”

Bon Bon was staring at the wall, trying with all her willpower not to fall asleep. Because of the big event today, she had pulled an all-nighter trying to make as much candy as she could. It had worked. As the sun barely peeked above the horizon she was awaiting the last of her sweets’ completion. She was straining not to blink, afraid she might open her eyes again hours later, when she heard a loud ding. She walked hurriedly over to the oven and pulled out a tray of treats.

“Finally. Now I can get some shut-eye,” the confectioner murmured to herself. She turned to head out of the kitchen and into her awaiting bed, when she heard something. An irritating knock came from her front door.

No. This is not happening. Bon Bon sighed, and accepted the fact that she’d be awake for several minutes more than she had planned. As she walked toward her front door, she spied through an open doorway into Lyra’s room. Her roommate was asleep, snoring quietly with her favorite instrument laying on the floor near her bed. She muttered to herself, “Lazy musicians.” There was no weight to the words however, and on her mouth was a content smile. She shook her head to fling the thoughts away as she opened the door. On her front porch was Derpy Hooves, with Bon Bon’s mail in her mouth. Bon Bon fumed in her mind. She was being kept away from her sleep for this? Mail?! It wasn’t even supposed to get here until noon! Had that idiot forgotten her assigned schedule? What was w—

“Hey there, Bon Bon, I got your mail!” the bubble-brained pony said, completely oblivious to Bon Bon’s inner rage.

“Listen Fish Eyes, I’m very busy. How many letters do you have for Lyra and I?” Bon Bon said in a tone of voice full of barely restrained malice.

“T-two,” Derpy said, her face drooping from a smile into a defeated frown..

“Okay then, I’ll take those and you can go aggravate somepony else today.” Bon Bon said as she took the letters then slammed the door in Derpy’s face. In the last instant before the door closed, she could clearly see the pegasus’s face, hurt and depressed. As she laid her and Lyra’s invitations on the table, she was close to hyperventilating. Then she took a deep breath. “I did it again, didn’t I? Lyra is not going to be happy when she finds out,” she muttered to herself. With that realization, she shambled to her room to catch a couple hours of sleep.

As Derpy and Carrot Top walked into the plaza in front of the train station, Carrot couldn’t help but think everypony in town was here—well, almost everypony. She couldn’t see that weird colt Derpy used to hang out with, or the three Mares who ran the flower shop. Before she could ask her friend about it, the Mayor took the stage, and addressed the town.

“Good day everypony! Today we are here to award these six ponies and one dragon, average citizens who’ve become legends, and have saved Ponyville and Equestria more times than we care to remember. We set up a fund, which quickly met its goal thanks to so many of your generous donations, to give these heroes something back. Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike are hereby on an official vacation, all expenses paid, to Las Pegasus!” the Mayor finished speaking in an excited tone. The crowd erupted into applause and cheers. The Mayor stepped aside as Twilight took the podium.

“We’d like to thank everypony for your generous gift! We don’t like,” Twilight said as she was suddenly interrupted by a cough from a cyan pegasus. “Well, most of us don’t like to be called heroes. We just did what anypony would in our situation: what we could to help. Furthermore...” Twilight continued her speech, though her friends had started tuning her out and began their own side conversation.

“Um, do you think that Ponyville will be okay? What if something happens and we’re not here to help?” Fluttershy asked, scared thinking of all her animal friends hurt.

“Pshah! Fluttershy, I think this quaint little town can take three days without burning itself to the ground,” Rainbow Dash said nonchalantly.

“Has anypony seen Apple Bloom? I haven’t seen that filly all day.” Applejack said, worry creeping into her words.

“Hmm, now that you mentioned it I haven’t seen Sweetie Belle since breakfast,” Rarity said, covering her own concern much better than Applejack did.

“Don’t worry girls! I’m sure they’re off with Scootaloo trying to get their Cutie Marks by building a giant paper airplane or something.” Pinkie Pie said. The others nodded, thinking the idea likely.

Just behind them, Rarity’s largest luggage bag opened a little, and three sets of eyes shined from within. The three fillies whispered so softly that none of the adults heard them, “Cutie Mark Crusader Stowaways,” then shut the lid quietly. After Twilight finished her speech, the group grabbed their surprisingly heavy luggage and boarded the train.

Fluttershy didn’t look like her friend’s words had lessened her worry. “Are you all sure that Ponyville will be okay?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “Oh come on Fluttershy, what’s the worst that could happen in one weekend?”

 

On the edge of the Everfree Forest, two figures watched the ceremony from afar. One was a pony, wearing a large hat. Next to her was a tall being, about seven feet tall. It stood on two legs, and wore a robe of complex yellow and red patterns. In its right hand was a staff as tall as itself. “So then, the Bearers have left. Operation Midnight Coup is a go.”


	2. Audience Claps

Bon Bon’s alarm clock went off, and a loud and repetitive beeping filled the air. As the sound reached her ears, she jumped two hooves in the air. After she landed on her bed, she reached behind her stand and pulled the clock’s power cord from the wall. “One of these days I’m going to invest in a alarm clock that plays actual music!” Bon Bon said, as she left her room. She looked out the window, and saw a sky full of stars.

She walked down the hall, and knocked at Lyra’s room. A cheerful, “Come in!” came in response. Bon Bon opened the door to find Lyra at her desk, which was covered with books. “Still waking up early I see!” Lyra said with a large smile.

“Well, somepony has to make the candy before everypony in town wakes up,” Bon Bon answered, a smile almost as large as Lyra’s stretched across her face. She looked at the books that covered her friend’s desk: “Humans: Fact or Fiction?” by Rita Skeeler; “So Long and Thanks for All the Apples” by Douglas Pratchett; and “I Don’t Know and Therefore Humans” by George Kalostsu. Bon Bon sighed and said, “Really Lyra? More research into humans? I’ll admit you’ve shown me enough evidence that it’s likely they did exist, but them still being around? It’s insane.”

A small spark seemed to go off in Lyra’s eyes. “There have been hundreds of sightings of humans in Equestria for decades! It’s entirely possible they’re still around!” Lyra said. Bon Bon sighed, and gave Lyra a hug.

“You might be a crazy pony Lyra, but you’re my crazy pony. Be sure to go to bed soon, alright? You have a concert next week, and while practice helps, we both know that rest makes you play even better,” Bon Bon said, smiling as she did so. Lyra returned the expression.

“Don’t worry, Bon Bon. I’m oka—” Lyra interrupted herself with a long yawn. This drew a pointed stare from her friend. “Alright, I’ll go to bed soon. I should conk out in an hour or so.” Lyra said, as her tired state creeped into her words. Bon Bon sighed one last time and left the room.

 

Octavia was hard at work. Her desk lamp filled her room with light, and she sighed in exhausted triumph as she set her pencil down from her mouth. “Finally. After hours of work, I may be a third of the way through with the opening part of my concerto.” With that exclamation, her energy seemed to visibly drain from her face. She yawned loudly, then said, “It’s probably a good idea to go to bed. I can work on this more tomorrow.” She clicked her lamp off, walked over to her bed, and got in. Not a second after her head touched the pillow, the air filled with a sound she had gotten used to hearing within minutes of moving in with a DJ: wubs. Her bloodshot eyes opened, and as she jumped from her bed she growled, “Vinyl!” She quickly trotted up the stairs to Vinyl’s door, which she somehow slammed open. Again, sounding almost like a guttural roar, she said, “Vinyl!”

The DJ’s room was covered in empty soda and energy drink cans. Posters of bands from almost every genre covered her wall. (Classical was noticeably absent.) Her computer, several amps, and turntable were on the wall opposite the door and were emitting the sound that awake Octavia. To the right was her bed, covered in blue sheets. Ms. Scratch herself was to the left, working on an enormous contraption that resembled a bass amp in the way a tiger resembles a kitten. Vinyl looked up at her roommate with a smile, her music having drowned out Octavia’s cries. She shouted out, “Hey Octy! Did my music wake you up?”

Octavia’s eyes cooled down a little, and she narrowed them. She put her hoof behind her ear and yelled, “What?”

Vinyl rolled her eyes, then screamed louder than before, “I said, ‘Hey Octy! Did my music wake you up?’”

Octavia looked even more confused than before. “What?” She yelled, not quite reaching the decibel level Vinyl had.

Vinyl smiled a little wider, and yelled, “I said, ‘You’re adorable when you’re confused!’”

Octavia responded, “What?”

Vinyl started laughing so hard it seemed she was in danger of suffocation. Octavia starred on, her cheeks a little pink now. When Vinyl finally managed to calm down, she horn was covered in a gray light, and the dial to her amps slid down to 0. Even though the music was no longer playing, Octavia’s ears rang. Vinyl looked back at her friend and said, “Well hello there, Octy. What brings you to my lair of awesomeness?”

Octavia seemed to regain a fraction of the rage she had stormed in there with, and said, “Why are you playing your music so loud? It’s midnight for Celestia’s sake!”

Vinyl shrugged and replied, “That isn’t loud. It was on 5.”

Octavia gasped. “That was 5? Seriously? That was the loudest thing I’ve heard since, since...since the last time you played your music loud! I’d hate to see that thing at 10!”

“11,” Vinyl replied with a large grin.

Octavia’s hoof met her forehead. “What.”

“11. The amp’s max is 11, not 10,” Vinyl finished. Her smile was growing by the second, waiting for the response she knew Octavia would have.

“I know I’ve said this before Vinyl, but you’ve seen This is Bridle Tap far too many times. I’m starting to wonder if somehow the film is a carcinogen, and you’ve grown some kind of tumor that forces you to make that joke every two seconds!” Octavia finished. She was trying not to smile, but it was hard. Before they knew it, the two were laughing like children. “Honestly though Vinyl, I’m worried about our neighbors. What if we get complaints? We could get in trouble for disturbing the peace,” Octavia said, no longer smiling.

Vinyl smiled, though it was more strained than her usual grins. “That’s all you’re worried about? I must’ve never told you, right after I bought this place I spent a large chunk of my savings to soundproof the whole building. The only ponies who can hear my music are those in the house.” She turned away before adding, “Sorry for making you worry though. I’ll try to keep my music quieter around this time of night. I mean, I don’t live alone anymore, do I?”

Octavia smiled very brightly then, and gave Vinyl a hug. “No, you don’t. Why don’t you show me this new project you’re so hard at work on?”

Vinyl wiped a tear away from her face. When she turned back, her face was spread into her trademark million-watt smile. “I’m glad you asked Octy!”

 

Carrot Top looked up from her book, eyes widening as she saw the clock. “It’s already midnight? I better head off for bed,” she said as she closed her light novel. She set it on the table next to her couch, then walked out of the living room. As she trotted down the hallway, she heard an odd sound emanating from the kitchen. It sounded like somepony sobbing. Carrot rushed into the kitchen, and found Derpy sitting at the table. She had a muffin in front of her, but it hadn’t been eaten at all. Tears ran down Derpy’s face and onto her muffin and made it soggy.

As her roommate entered the kitchen, Derpy blinked. When she realized she wasn’t alone, her eyes widened and she tried to wipe the tears from her face. “Oh, sorry Carrot Top. I’m sorry if I woke you up. Don’t wo—” Before she could finish, Carrot Top was hugging her tightly. Rather than saying anything else, Derpy gave up any pretence of calm and sobbed into Carrot’s shoulder. They continued that, Derpy crying as Carrot held her, for quite a while before the mailmare finally calmed down.

When she seemed to be marginally better, Carrot disengaged herself from the hug and looked at Derpy with piercing eyes. “What happened?” The question was asked softly, but underneath it was obvious there would be no maneuvering away from it. Something was wrong and Carrot would find out.

Derpy sighed, then said, “While I was delivering letters this morning, somepony yelled at me. They insulted me and said I was just a bother to everypony.” With that last statement, it seemed like Derpy might start sobbing again, but she took a deep breath and regained control.

Carrot’s face scrunched up in thought, then she said, “I thought this was obvious, but I’m your friend Derpy. You aren’t a bother.” There was steel underneath her voice, an iron conviction that what she said was the truth.

Both of Derpy’s eyes looked away from Carrot, but in opposite directions. “But, but I cause you so much trouble! You provide a home for me and Amethyst and Dinky, and we eat your food and—” Before she could continue, Carrot’s right hoof covered her mouth.

“No. You are my friend, and your children are like nieces to me. You’re part of my family now Derpy, and that means we take care of each other. Don’t ever think that you’re a bother to me.” After that Carrot smiled, and the facial feature proved infectious as it bloomed on Derpy’s face as well. With that taken care of, a fire seemed to light in Carrot Top’s eyes. “Now, who said this to you?”

Derpy chuckled, and said, “No way am I telling you. I’m afraid you might put them in the hospital.”

Carrot Top rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, what they said deserves at least one broken leg. Maybe two.”

The pegasus smiled, but when she responded it was clear that she wouldn’t budge on the matter. “No. I don’t want anypony hurt on my account.”

 

As the moon reached the apex of the sky, two figures watched the town from the outskirts. They looked over Ponyville, and could see no lights. “Good, the town is asleep. Cast the spell.” The voice came from the taller of the two, a small laugh in his words.

A small aura of light blue energy formed around the smaller of the two’s horn. The unicorn grunted in effort, as her spell went out over the town.

 

The Mayor was sleeping soundly in her room, so soundly in fact that her snores reached the street outside. Suddenly, a light blue aura covered her head. It did not dissipate. As it took hold of her mind she stopped all movement and her snoring ceased.

 

On the floor there lay a purple mare, a bottle of alcoholic origins a few hooves away. She was sleeping quietly, her face still flushed. A blanket had been laid across Berry Pinch, and her daughter was snuggled against her. The same light blue aura as before covered both of their heads as well, stopping the foal from moving in her sleep.

After several minutes, the aura faded from the unicorn’s horn. The other figure turned to her and asked, “Is it done? Did the spell work?” She was breathing heavily, her breath shown in the cold air in front of her. She nodded in answer. The tall figure beamed, and turned towards the forest at his back. “My army! Operation Midnight Coup has begun! To your duties!”

 

“...and then Pinkie said, ‘Oatmeal? Are you crazy!?’” Derpy said to finish her story. She laughed at the conclusion, while Carrot Top stared in horror. Derpy noticed the look, and asked, “What’s the matter Carrot?”

“Oh, nothing, just reevaluating my friendship with Pinkie Pie. After that story I might be a little scared of her.” Derpy chuckled to herself, and started to answer. Before she could, her ears shot up.

“What’s that noise?” Derpy dashed out of the kitchen. Carrot Top looked at the door, then tried hearing anything herself. She didn’t hear a thing. She shrugged and followed Derpy outside. There they found Octavia, Vinyl, Lyra, and Bon Bon also standing outside. From out here even Carrot could hear the sound Derpy had mentioned. It filled the air, still quiet but getting steadily louder every second. The sound of many footsteps, walking in perfect synchronization.


	3. Show Starts

As Carrot Top left her home, Lyra and Octavia were deep in conversation. "...and right after the performance I was told I'd be playing at this year's Gala! Can you believe it?" Lyra finished saying, smiling widely.

"Oh yes, playing at the Grand Galloping Gala should be a great boost for your career," Octavia replied, a sly smile forming in response to her implied jab.

Lyra's eyes narrowed. "Well, I can only hope mine isn't as, what's a good word, interesting as yours was. I'm amazed you got your current job afterwards. Thanks to a certain baker we both know, people only got to hear your music for the first half of the Gala."

Octavia frowned a little at the memory, but then sighed. "Well, I am well inoculated to my cousin's antics at this point. And as it turns out, the little music I did perform was enough to secure the position. Enough of the required banter though, I am honestly happy you got the, uh, 'gig.' I mean, how could we be rivals if you don't get the chance to show everypony what you can do?" Octavia said, her frown having slowly morphed into a slight smile as she spoke.

Lyra grinned and said, "Agreed!" She then lifted her hoof into the air, and stared at Octavia expectantly. She rolled her eyes, but raised her own hoof to meet Lyra's nonetheless.

Not even a meter away Vinyl and Derpy were chattering quickly. "...you're right, seaponies are unlikely given we're on land. Hmm...I got it! It's the army of Nightmare Moon come to enslave us!" Derpy said.

Vinyl shook her head and responded, "Naw, that doesn't fit either. I had Princess Luna on the show a couple months ago, and it was pretty clear that whatever made her crazy and evil is gone. Now she's just a shy goddess with a massive case of culture shock." As Vinyl scratched her head with her hoof, she closed her eyes and wrinkled her brow. "Maybe..." She sat in silence for just under six seconds, a record for the mare. "I got it! Maybe it's diamond dogs!"

Derpy immediately shook her head from side to side. "No, they're busy with another war against the gryphons right now. They're leader is on pretty decent terms with Princess Celestia, and their tactics have always been more one of attrition than of sneak attacks." At this, Vinyl stared at Derpy. "Hmm, what about Ciel Gurrier?"

Vinyl looked even more confused now. "Who? Wait, I think I remember hearing that name once...wasn't he some gryphon ruler?"

Derpy nodded, and her eyes went from looking outward to focusing inward. Still in opposite directions though. "Yup. He was a master of sneak attacks and deception, never liked Princess Celestia or Equestria, and was a big meanie anyway."

"But, if he's the same gryphon they taught me about in Middle School, hasn't he been dead for like, hundreds of years?" Vinyl asked.

"Uh, w-well, I-I..." Derpy stammered.

After Carrot Top managed to pick out the sound Derpy had heard, she looked around. Lyra and Octavia were talking about performing or something, Derpy and Vinyl were making crazy theories, and Bon Bon was looking around as well. It did seem, however, that Bon Bon's gaze never came close to the area where Vinyl and Derpy were chatting. Frowning a little, Carrot Top walked over to Bon Bon and said, "Are you the one who insulted Derpy earlier today?"

A bead of sweat went down the side of Bon Bon's head, and she replied, "What? Me? Why would you think that?"

Carrot Top rolled her eyes. "You've been avoiding looking at her, her left eye comes to rest on you every so often, and in my experience when you go looking for who robbed somepony, you ask burglars. I'm looking for somepony who insulted Derpy, and you have a reputation for rudeness."

Bon Bon sighed, and said, "Okay. It's just that I'd just pulled an all-nighter and was about to go to sleep and I was stres—"

Carrot interrupted her. "No. I don't care what your excuses are. You insulted my best friend and are now ignoring the problem. What you need to do is apologize for what you said, and maybe give her a muffin. And if you don't, or do this to her again, and I find out, we will have problems."

Bon Bon gulped, and said, "Okay. I'll own up to it. It's the least I can do."

Carrot smiled. "Good. That's the fi—"

"Everypony, hide!" Vinyl shouted. Carrot listened again and realized the footsteps were much louder now. Not only that, but when she looked down the street she could see a wall of shadows coming closer. The six ponies dashed into an alley, making sure to stay far enough back that it would be hard to see them from the street. For almost half a minute, they stood in silence, the tension growing. Then, they saw the source of their fear. It was an legion of monkeys, all walking on two feet and wearing white military uniforms. They were in a strict formation, and they moved in perfect rhythm.

As they passed Carrot Top's house, ten split off from the main group and went inside. Carrot and Derpy shared a nervous glance, and less than a minute later the monkeys exited, several of them carrying Dinky. There was a light blue aura of magic around the foal's head. Derpy, sweating bullets, asked, "Why isn't she waking up?! Dinky is a very light sleeper!"

Everypony except Vinyl shrugged. The DJ said, "See that aura around her head? I'd bet my shades it's a Sandman spell. It only works on ponies who are asleep, and as long as it's active they can't wake up. Literally nothing you do would wake them up." As she talked, the legion passed other houses. At each one they would sent in more monkeys, and carried out more sleeping ponies.

Bon Bon looked from the sleeping ponies back to Vinyl. "How do you know what spell it is?"

"Uh," Vinyl looked around as her face turned red. "Let's just say I found interesting uses for that particular enchantment while in university." Now everypony was blushing.

Carrot shushed them, then pointed down the alley. Much quieter than they were talking she said, "We don't want to be found now. I think they're heading for Town Hall." She started off down the alleyway, and they followed.

"...and that's how I saved Hearths Warming Eve," Derpy whispered to everypony else as they reached an alleyway connected to the Town Square. As they got about halfway down the alley, they stopped to see what was going on. On the far end of the Square from them was an open-air cage. Inside were the citizens of Ponyville, all fast asleep. After a monkey group brought in a pony, they went out to the square and got into formation. Currently, about half the square was filled with monkeys standing at attention shoulder to shoulder. Directly in front of Town Hall were two figures. One was a dark blue unicorn with a silly hat and cape. Her eyes were only half open, and she was breathing heavily. Next to her was a monkey, though he was at least twice as tall as those he commanded, and much thinner. He was wearing yellow robes with a red trim, and meditating on a red staff.

"Look at how many of them there are!" Lyra said, her voice quavering a little.

"Yes, I think we should try getting a hold of the Bearers. They should be able to deal with this." Octavia said. Her voice was calm, but her legs were trembling.

"That sounds like a good idea, I bet Rainbow Dash can help," Derpy said, her voice steadying out as she talked.

"I don't want to, but I think I agree. There's no way we can take down this many primates. Besides, it's their job to do stuff like this anyway, right?" Vinyl grumbled. They all looked at Carrot Top for her opinion, but somepony spoke before she could.

"What is wrong with you ponies!?" Bon Bon said angrily. "Don't you get it! They're in Las Pegasus so it would take them hours to get here from train, and even then there aren't any running this late. This situation isn't going to solve itself, and we're the only ones who can help!"

Octavia closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know if we can realistically do anything Bon Bon. I mean look at us, who would ask a cellist, disk jockey, lyrist, mailmare, carrot farmer, and confectioner to 'save the day'?"

"You say that, but when Nightmare Moon foalnapped Princess Celestia, or when Discord turned the laws of physics into guidelines, who stepped up then? It wasn't some legendary heroes! It's wasn't the police or the guards! It was a baker, librarian, fashionista, animal caretaker, apple farmer, and weather manager!" Bon Bon said. As she spoke, Lyra's face went from a frown to a smile, Derpy broke out in a small grin, and Vinyl's expression became one of confidence and delight.

Octavia's expression however, did not change. "You make a good point, but they had the Elements of Harmony."

"Harmony shmormony! It's like Twilight said in her speech today: if somepony can help, it's their responsibility to do so!" Bon Bon said.

Carrot Top nodded. "I agree with Bon Bon. It is our duty to help. But we can't go in blind. We need a plan. Octavia, I'll leave that to you."

"Okay, I guess we must then," Octavia spoke as she shrugged. "Alright, what do we know?"

Vinyl burst into speech. "Well, an army of monkeys led by some big monkey and that traitorous magician have put a heavy duty sleeping spell on the whole town but us and caged them for nefarious purposes!" the DJ said very quickly.

"Good work summing that up Vinyl. So, how do you know she's a magician? Sure, her outfit is odd, but there are other options," Octavia asked.

Bon Bon groaned. "Ugh, we know because she's been to town before. Her name's Trixie, and she's a stuck-up two-bit illusionist who made outrageous claims, and when she was revealed to be lying she got ran out of town."

Lyra chuckled. "Yeah, she really ticked off Bon Bon. What she just said was mostly true, but she is really good at magic. I don't know how strong her music is, but her control better than mine by a good margin."

"Interesting. So she's pretty much a known factor then. Good. What about the big, uh, monkey that seems to be in charge?" Octavia asked. Her answer was a four blank stares.

"Ooh, ooh I know!" Derpy said excitedly. "His name's Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. He rules the Monkey Republic to the south. He's really strong, but a meany too."

"Oh, uh, alright then. Okay, what about our main objective?" Octavia asked. She stared into space as she thought. "Alright, I think I have it. So, two of us to rescue the townsfolk from the cage. For that we can have a unicorn levitate a pony up, and Derpy can grab them fly them out. Lyra, how strong is your magic?"

Lyra looked down. "Not very. My control is goof enough, but I've always had trouble with heavy things. Vinyl should do it."

Vinyl flashed her usual grin. "Yeah, I got this one. It might get a little hairy near the end, but with what's at stake I can deal with stress."

A small smile formed on Octavia's face. "I knew you could handle that. Next we'll need—"

"Wait Octy!" Vinyl said. "We should use my, uh, secret project! If somepony could go get it and wheel it over here, we'd have an ace-in-the-hole!"

"That works good. I was already going to head back to the house for a different mission, so Lyra can come with me and operate the machine. That leaves Bon Bon and Carrot Top for the dangerous part. You're going to have to distract the monkeys while both of the other groups carry out their missions." Octavia said. "Does that work for you two?"

Carrot Top brandished her left hoof menacingly. "I think I can handle that."

Bon Bon looked from side to side. "Uh, I don't know how much help I'll be. My first and last fight was two hits: they hit me and I hit the pavement."

"Don't worry Bon Bon! Just do what you're good at, and I know you'll succeed," Lyra said while brandishing a smile.

"Wait, look!" Derpy said, pointing at the cage. The last of the townsponies were thrown in, and the final monkeys locked the gate behind them. As they joined the large formation, it now looked from the air like a perfect square.

"Well, that's going have to be it for planning!" Carrot Top said. "Let's go everypony, we don't have much time!" Octavia and Lyra headed towards the former's house, Vinyl and Derpy trotted to another alley to make their way around the square, and at Carrot's gesture Bon Bon stayed where she was. She joined Carrot near the end of the alley, and as she did she saw the Monkey King's eyes open and a toothy grin spread across his hairless face.


	4. Exposition

With a shrill laugh, the Monkey King jumped off of his pole and faced his army. "My soldiers! Today is the day we have waited for! The day our nation has been building up to over four centuries now! The day I, your King, Sun Wukong, finally triumphs over the despot of this land, Celestia!" He gestured violently as he talked, and when he paused to take a breath his soldiers cheered with a ferocity that seemed almost unnatural.

"Several of you most likely do not know the cause of the enmity between the pony princess and I. The answer goes back almost a millennia, to the beginnings of both me and our country. Back then we were a small tribe, and I was no different from any of you. I was unlike my contemporaries, however. They were satisfied with the jungle they had been born in, and I was not. I traveled far and wide for many years, learning and perfecting martial arts as I went. My journey ended after ten years at the summit of a mountain, where I sat and meditated on what I had seen." His audience stood enraptured in the story, for many it was the first time they had heard it from Wukong himself.

"I sat on that mountaintop, contemplating the universe, for months. I did not eat, and I did not sleep. I had learned how to manipulate my heart so it would barely beat, and I could sit and remunerate on my topic. After three months of metitation, I finally had the answer. I had reached enlightenment! And when I returned to the small jungle from which I had been born, I showed them my power! For no power in this world matches that gained by one who has reached enlightenment!" Once again the crowd cheered. "Once they saw my greatness, the monkeys elected me their ruler! Those were tough years, but over the next six centuries we expanded, and became a power to be reckoned with!

"And so, in the year 1624, when a summit was called to arrange a peace between the insidious gryphons and the despicable diamond dogs, for once our country was invited!" The smile on Wukong's face was radiant. "Words cannot express how happy I was that day, and how proud at how far I had taken our people! But when I arrived at the council I had none of the respect offered to the other leaders, because I was elected to my position and not born into it! Celestia called our glorious republic an 'experiment,' and her sister made allusions to it not lasting! But we have shown them! Now, I can't take all the credit for this victory. Invading the country, let alone capturing this town, would not have been possible if it wasn't for a very special pony! Please, show your thanks my people to the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

The applause and cheering was again deafening, but at first Trixie showed no reaction. After Wukong didn't speak for almost half a minute, she jumped a little as she realized it was her turn to speak. She stepped up to where Wukong was and said, "Yes, well, um—" before she interrupted herself with a yawn. "It, it was nothing, as long as you give Trixie what she was promised."

The Monkey King chuckled and said, "Of course Trixie! But you should take a nap, you seem very tired."

Trixie looked like she was going to argue, but before she could say anything she yawned, much longer than the last one. "Trixie supposes, if you'll kindly excuse her." At that she turned and walked into Town Hall.

Sun Wukong cleared his throat, and said, "Well then, now—"

"Hold it right there!" Every head in the square turned to just outside an alleyway, where Carrot Top stood. "I'm not going to allow you to get away with...whatever it is you're trying to do! I challenge you to a fight!"

A cackle escaped Sun Wukong's lips as they curled into a tight smile. "Ah, somepony actually escaped the foal's spell, eh? Well, it's been a while since I last dirtied my own hands with this kind of thing, but it'll make for a good demonstration! My subjects, I order you not to look away from this duel! See what happens to those who defy me, and never forget it!" With that he walked over and grabbed his pole. While it was being held in his right hand, he raised his left with the palm half open. "Now, just to make this a tiny bit more fair, how about you go first? Come on, show me what a little pony can do." Carrot Top's face turned red, and she charged. When she got about four hooves or so away from him, Carrot Top leaped at him.

Vinyl was panting hard. She looked up to see Derpy returning to her previous position over the cage. As the unicorn gritted her teeth and lifted the next pony up she said, "Well, what does this put us at, three hundred now?"

"I haven't really been counting, but that seems about right." Derpy said, as she waited for the pony to reach her.

"I really hope Octy and Lyra get back soon, I don't know how long Carrot Top can distract them by herself." Vinyl said. She let out a sigh as Derpy grabbed the pony from her grip.

Before Derpy flew off, she smiled as said, "You've obviously never seen Carrot fight first hoof. Don't worry, they're going to be occupied for a while.

Carrot Top dodged a lazy punch from Wukong, and immediately used the opportunity to swing a hoof at his face. Before it could get far, the Monkey King twisted his wrist, bringing his staff up to block the blow. Carrot took this chance to push her back hooves off his chest and jump backwards. She had to blink a little as sweat dripped into her eye. As she gulped in air, she looked at her opponent. He was standing there, grinning at her. There wasn't a drop of perspiration on the guy. "Okay, so how is it we can fight for minutes and you're not even tired?" she asked.

Another shrill cackle escaped him, and he said, "This? Listen mare, I'll give you due respect. You're a skilled fighter. But I'm not only a master of martial arts, but I've been continually getting better for almost a thousand years! You cannot hope to—"

"About that," Carrot Top interjected. "You keep saying 'martial arts.' Which one? They do have names you know. Tia Quan Do, Karate, Jujitsu, Praying Manticore-style Kung Fu."

The monkey's right eye twitched. "My style needs no name, for I am the only being to practice it! It is the accumulation of all my knowledge about fighting these last thousand years!"

Carrot Top's breathing had stabilized. "Um, I don't think that qualifies as a 'martial art.' It's more just your skill at fighting. And, if what I read is right, what you're doing isn't a martial art anyway because you fight with a weapon, your staff!"

"What are you, a dictionary? I'm a king, I can call my fighting style whatever I want! Now let's cut the talking, and go back to me beating the stuffing out of you!" He started to charge at Carrot Top, but stopped when a booming voice filled the air.

"MONKEY KING. I HAVE ARRIVED AS YOU REQUESTED! NOW, STOP HURTING MY CITIZENS AT ONCE!" The voice was loud, and seemed to be coming the direction behind Town Hall.

"C-Celestia?" As he spoke Wukong's eyes were wide and his pupils beady. Large beads of sweat traced down his face. Looking behind him at his subjects, he turned toward the voice and as calmly as he could said. "W-well it took you less time than I thought to get here, Celestia! I'll stop this duel with your pet now, but if you want the rest of them safely returned, you will head our demands!"

"SPEAK. WHAT DO YOU REQUIRE FROM ME?" After the voice's answer filled the air, a small and fragile smile crept over Sun Wukong's face.

"First, I want you to cede some of your land to my country." Carrot Top gasped at the King's request.

"I HAD EXPECTED AS MUCH. WHICH LANDS SPECIFICALLY?" The smallest chuckle escaped Wukong's lips.

"I want the Haysead Swamps, and the badlands to the west of them. I also want a team of earth ponies and pegasi to terraform the badlands into a jungle." There was a short pause before the voice responded.

"I WILL SEE TO IT THAT IS DONE. THE TERRAFORMING MAY TAKE SOME TIME THOUGH." Sun Wukong's eyes narrowed at the reply.

"I did not think you would part with that land so easily." He frowned before he continued, "My second request is that you...apologize."

"WHAT." The voice sounded unsure now. "I MEAN, FOR WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO APOLOGIZE?"

"Oh please, I think you know." A vein on his forehead throbbed as he said, "I want you to make a public confession of the wrong you did me 386 years ago, and then apologize profusely!"

"AH YES, THAT WRONG. COULD, uh, YOU REMIND ME WHAT THAT WAS EXACTLY?" For a single sylabble, the voice sounded nothing like the Sun Princess.

"Deceiver! You are not Celestia!" He looked from the Town Hall to Carrot Top. "What could you be trying to distract me from?" He started to turn towards the cages, but before he could a hoof connected with his face. As Carrot Top landed from her jump, Wukong hit the ground. He shakily got up, using his staff as a crutch. He touched his cheek with his hand, and when he looked at it there was blood. The monkey crowd's jaws had dropped. Wukong stared at Carrot as if he didn't believe what was happening. "You hit me."

Carrot Top moved her shoulders in a shrug and said, "Yeah, I did. You shouldn't turn you back on an opponent like that, y'know. You'd think somemonkey with a millenia of fighting experience would know that."

The entire army of monkeys gasped. Sun Wukong started breathing heavily, and said in a voice dripping with rage, "You cannot strike me! I am the King! You are a commoner, a street-rat! You are not worthy to even clean my clothes!" He swung his staff, and as is moved through the air is extended. Carrot tried to dodge too late, and it struck her in the side. She was sent flying and hit the side of Town Hall before crumpling onto the ground.

Not seconds after Bon Bon emerged from behind the building. "Carrot Top! Are you okay?" Carrot didn't answer her.

The Monkey King turned around and saw Vinyl slumped against the outside of the cage, while Derpy was just arriving overhead. Realizing their plan, he looked into makeshift prison, and saw it was empty. "Subjects! Round up these ponies and bring them to me! It won't be as good a bargaining position, but it looks like we'll have to hold these four hostage instead!"


	5. Reveal

The Monkey King opened the door that led to the break room of Town Hall. It was a tad small, had a vending machine, a table, and four chairs. Off to the far side from the door was a counter, and a coffee machine sat on top of it. After he motioned with his hand, his soldiers brought in Bon Bon, an unconscious Carrot Top, Vinyl Scratch, and Derpy Hooves all of whom were tied up with rope. With another hand sign his grunts left the room. He turned to leave, but before he was all the way out the door he turned to the ponies. "I'll be back in a couple minutes. I would stay, but the orange one interrupted my speech and I'd like to finish it. I'll send somemonkey to wake that magician up so she can keep you company while I'm busy." He sighed, then a large smile appeared on his face and left the room.

The silence lasted for about thirty seconds. "Um, Derpy?" Both of the other conscious ponies looked at Bon Bon. "I wanted to, uh, apologize. For, well, insulting you this morning. It was wrong. Could you forgive me?" When Derpy started to answer, Bon Bon's body braced itself.

"Of course I accept your apology, Bon Bon!" After Derpy finished, Bon Bon stared at her oddly.

"Wait, that's it? I was horrible to you! Shouldn't you, I don't know, yell at me or something?" Derpy's eyes went from staring outward to focusing inward again.

"Why? You said you were sorry, and you look sincere, so why would I be mad?" Before Bon Bon could reply, Vinyl started talking.

"Don't sweat over it, Double B. It took me some time to get used to it too, but D is just that awesome. You're lucky she accepted it too, because if I knew you had hurt her..." Vinyl's horn started glowing lightly. "Well, let's just say these ropes would not have helped you. So, wait a second, that fake Celestia was you?"

Bon Bon scooted a little away from Vinyl before saying, "Yeah. Carrot and I had worked it out beforehoof, in case you two hadn't finished by the time she was too tired to fight. Her striking a conversation with him was the trigger."

A gray aura surrounded Vinyl's glasses, and they moved to behind her horn. "I don't think you understand how impressed I am. I did a half-hour interview with Princess Celestia in-pony, and I thought that she had shown up."

Bon Bon's cheeks turned a little pink. "Yeah, well, before I took up the confectioner thing, I was a professional voice actress. I still do a little of it when my old characters are used again. After hearing you and Octavia interview the Princess, I started practicing her voice. I thought it would make for a good prank to get back at Lyra one day."

Vinyl's pupils went wide. "Woah! What did you do? You might have been in something I saw!"

The mare let out a small cough. "Uh, just some anime. I voiced Rukia from Bleach, Yuki from The Depression of Haruhi Suzumiya, Princess Euphemia from Operation Geass, and, dang what was her name, Yoko! That's it, Yoko, from Tengen Terra Gurren Lagann."

"What." Vinyl's mouth was gaping open. "You're Miss Red? The mysterious voice actress!? If there was any paper around here I would ask you for an autograph! Gurren Lagann is, like, the greatest anime of all time!"

Derpy decided to jump in here. "Yeah, and if Carrot was awake she'd be doing that weird noise she does sometimes! What was it, 'Squa?' 'Squee?' Anyway, she has all of the stuff from the depressing show you mentioned. I remember one time something happened in the show, and for the rest of the day all she could say was, 'Endless Eight?!' Well, that and some pretty bad curse words."

Bon Bon was blushing furiously now. "Oh, no, it's just a hobby. I miss it sometimes, but it made me travel too much. I really like Ponyv—"

Before Bon Bon could finish, the door slammed open and Trixie walked in.

"Trixie hopes you four are happy! Because of your intervention, The Great and Powerful Trixie has been deprived of her sleep!" She slowly moved over to a chair and sat down.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, you do look really tired. Why don't you take a nap right now?" Derpy said with sparkling eyes.

Something resembling a laugh came from Trixie, though it was quickly overwhelmed by exhaustion. "What, so you can all escape and stop Mr. Conqueror? Ha. Besides, the rest wouldn't help much anyway. Trixie's fatigue has nothing to do with her body."

The grin on the DJ's face grew. "Oh, I get it! Little Miss Awesome over here used too much magic." The scowl on Trixie's face did nothing but confirm Vinyl's statement to the other two mares. Derpy and Bon Bon looked at Vinyl, an unspoken question in their eyes. "Oh, right, you two wouldn't know that much about this kinda thing, huh? That sleep spell is very simple, and doesn't use that much energy to cast. But when you cast it on more ponies at the same time, it end up costing more and more energy. Trix Are For Foals over here cast it on the entire town, which is crazy! I'm amazed she's just tired and not unconscious right now!

A smug smile plastered itself on Trixie's face as she leaned back in her chair. "Trixie is insulted that you would compare her majestic magical might to your paltry spells! Not only did she do the spell as you said she did, she also conjured that cage you saw outside!" She smirked at the captured citizens.

"Uh, I don't know how to say this Trixie, but what is wrong with you!?" At Vinyl's question Trixie, almost nodding off, jumped clear out of her chair. "Using up that much magic in a week is dangerous, and in one night might as well be suicide! What screws were knocked loose that make you follow this monkey dude so much?"

Trixie hung her head low. "You want to know why Trixie's doing this? Fine. She's sure you all remember the last time she payed a visit to this despicable hamlet. Trixie bets you all thought she didn't learn her lesson, right?" A small chuckle filled the chilled air. "Oh, she learned. That day Trixie saw the truth. Despite her exceptional talent for magic and many claims to the contrary, Trixie is not Great or Powerful.

"That day Trixie realized something had to change. So she realized what she must do." She looked up at the mares, tears in her eyes. "Trixie must become Great and Powerful. By doing this job for that filthy monkey, he will give her all the magical books in his country, and with that knowledge, Trixie will evolve! Trixie will make it so nopony ever questions her power again!" With that she turned away from them and started a low laugh, only to be interrupted by Bon Bon.

"Well, it looks like your overblown stage persona hasn't 'evolved' Trixie. Still as over-the-top as ever. Also, y'know, that teensy tiny little point of, that wasn't the lesson you twit! When you're called out on your grandiose lies and exaggerations, you're supposed to learn to stop bragging! Only you would take away from that that her mistake was she wasn't cool enough to brag yet!" Trixie turned around with an icy look on her face, absently wiping the tears from her eyes as Bon Bon talked.

"Really? And when did you suddenly become the general of the fort on the Moral High Ground?" A small smirk was etched on the magician's face. "Why, Trixie remembers when she came here the first time! She wasn't in town long, maybe a day or so, but even that was enough to hear the awful rumors about you. Bon Bon, the pony with an acid tongue." Vinyl tried to say something, but Trixie talked over her. "Can you honestly tell Trixie that she's never insulted either of you?" Trixie paused here, and Vinyl was decidedly silent as she mulled it over.

"You're wrong about her," Derpy said, and iron conviction ringing out with every syllable. "I haven't known Bon Bon for very long, but I still know she's ten times the mare you'll ever be. She sometimes snaps at ponies, but she has a good heart. When danger reared it's head, she was the one who convinced us to help. You're a bully and a braggart."

"Why you little imb—" The door slammed open. Sun Wukong walked in, slouching as he did so. The sound of ecstatic applause leaked in until he shut the door behind him. He took notice of the venomous look on Trixie's face. She turned to him and said. "Payment. Now."

The Monkey King's eyes widened a little. "Oh, uh, really? I thought you were going to stick around a while longer, maybe rest or, uh, something."

Trixie's eyes narrowed into slits. "Trixie has to see a zebra about a potion. Get her the reward, now." The way she pronounced that last word procured no argument in the matter.

Wukong shrugged. "Sure, I have it right here." He reached into his robe pocket, and pulled out a single book. "Here's your payment Trix."

A light blue glow covered the book as it left Wukong's hand and floated in front of Trixie's face. She stared at the cover, then at Wukong, then back at the book. "This cover says, 'The Spell Compendium Book 1-The Basics' by Nord Perfect." Her glaring eyes slowly moved from the encyclopedia to Sun Wukong. "You said you'd give Trixie tomes of magic far exceeding anything she'd ever seen! Instead you give her a basic list of spells any unicorn can learn? Ones Trixie mastered before she reached adulthood?!"

The room was silent. After almost a full minute of dead air, Wukong coughed. "Well, that's not exactly true. I told you I was a being who has ruled a country for almost a thousand years, and that your reward was every book about magic we have." He looked away from Trixie. "It just so happens that at the moment, the book you now have is the only book about magic we have."

For a second, it was as if Trixie was trying to stare at Sun Wukong's head so hard it would explode. "I!" she started. "You? Book!?" she stammered out, trying to vocalize her frustration. Then she took a long, deep breath. The book dropped to the ground, and Trixie walked to the door. Without a sound she opened it, and left.

"Well, now that she's gone, we can talk." Wukong walked over and untied the three conscious ponies. He chattered away as he worked. "Sorry about your friend here. I didn't want anypony actually getting hurt, but I have a temper problem I've been working on." After they were all free of their bonds, he gestured over at the table. "Sit down, please."

Vinyl stretched a little before walking over to the table. "So, why are you untying us? Can't we talk while tied up? And by untying us, don't you run the risk of us escaping?"

Wukong started laughing uproariously. By the time he finished, he was almost out of breath, and wiping a tear from his eye. "That's a good one. Okay, in order: at this point you're more my guests than prisoners; we could, but I feel it would be rude of me; and no. I am an immortal master of martial arts who defeated your strongest fighter without breaking a sweat. There is no risk of you escaping. At all."

Bon Bon sat down and nodded. "True. After what you did to Carrot Top, I don't want to try my luck."

Derpy flew over to her seat and plopped down. "Can I be honest Mr. Wukong?" He nodded his head in reply. "What you did to Trixie was really mean of you."

The brow on the monkey's face furrowed. "Yes, that. I wasn't trying to trick her. I needed a way into this country safely, let alone the whole sleeping spell thing. When I explained who I was, she's the one who set the conditions of the bet. And maybe, what, sixty years ago it would have been a good trade. But the reason for that being my last magic book is the same one for why we came here tonight."

"How?" Bon Bon asked. "How could you possibly justify invading our country and holding this peaceful town hostage? What could you possibly say that would make us understand?!"

"My people are dying." With that simple sentence, all the fire seemed to leave Bon Bon. "It was inevitable really. My country consists of three jungles and the open land between them. Our population has been steadily rising for centuries, but now..." As the monkey king looked down at his open palms, he looked as old as he was. "Over the last three years I've sold everything I can to keep my people fed, but it isn't enough. Our coffers are empty, and we need more land."

Bon Bon shook her head, and said solemnly, "Okay, yeah, that's a pretty bad situation. But why are you doing this to Equestria? Don't you have another neighbor you can bother?"

Before the king could respond Derpy did. "He can't. His only other neighboring country is the changelings, and there's no way this trick would work on their Queen."

Wukong looked at Derpy, as if seeing her for the first time. "Exactly right. And I can't just invade her, those you see outside is my entire armed forces. And if you paid attention during your little rescue mission you'd have noticed they're all unarmed. Speaking of the dear Queen Chrysalis, when I actually talk with Celestia next I need to remember to tell her to thank her nice, what was it, Cadence. Without her Chrysalis would be ruling this country, and the lives of you ponies would be no bargaining chip at all." He stared at the pegasus a little closer. "Haven't I seen you before?"

Derpy's eyes went wide, and she said, "What? No! I'm just a mare who likes her history, yeah! Never seen you before in my life!"

The Monkey King held his chin in thought. After ten seconds he said, "Yeah, you're right. The mare I'm thinking of must have died centuries ago."

"Back on subject," Vinyl said, frowning intently. "Why didn't you just ask Princess Celestia for help? I've met her before, and I'm sure she'd work something out."

The Monkey King barked out a laugh. "Like that wasn't my first idea. You'd be surprised, considering the rhetoric I feed my army, but I've always admired her. She's the only long-living being who isn't disdainful and rude to me. She tries to help, and is genuinely kind. But there's no way I would get a chance to talk to her. This country is set up in such a way that any message from me to her goes through at least eight ponies before she can see it. There's no way her a message about giving away Equestrian land, for free no less, to me would actually get to her. The only time we can talk is at summits, and those are only convened when three nations vote to do so. Freaking bur—"

All of a sudden, a small red dot on Vinyl's back lit up with a beep. She put her shades back on, then said, "Girls, we better back up a little. And cover your eyes." She ran to the wall where Carrot Top lay, and huddled against it. Seeing her reaction, Bon Bon and Derpy quickly followed suit.

Sun Wukong stood up, and asked, "What is going on?" The sound of a large machine being activated filled the air, the source apparently being behind the wall with the counter. Slowly, the sound of techno beats began to blossom, growing louder every second. "What is this?" Wukong said, staring at the wall. Then, a beam of white light as tall as the monkey king himself blasted through the wall. It sent the ruler flying backwards, and through the whole in the wall the beam had created.

"That," Vinyl said, "is my bass cannon."


	6. Curtains Fall

In the silence that followed the blast, Octavia and Lyra walked in the room through one of the holes in the wall. Bon Bon trotted up to Lyra and hugged her tightly. "Don't make me worry like that again." Lyra patted Bon Bon's head as the confectioner sobbed into her green mane. Vinyl walked over nonchalantly to Octavia.

"Yeah, so." Vinyl said. She looked intently at the wall for a few seconds, before bear hugging Octavia. "You are the best roommate ever, Octy!"

Octavia seemed to be trying to smile. "Thank you for the compliment Vinyl but, ah, if you keep squeezing my this hard I'll be the best late roommate ever." Vinyl immediately dropped her, and blushed as she accepted Octavia's offered hug. Bon Bon disengaged herself from her own hug and turned to Vinyl.

"What was that beeping?" Bon Bon asked.

Vinyl chuckled. "Oh that. One of the conditions of Octavia moving in with me, actually. She injected a tracking device in my back, so she always knows where to find me."

Bon Bon squinted at the two. "So, does Octavia have one too?"

Octavia and Vinyl looked at each-other, then started laughing. By the time they had settled down, Octavia answered. "You don't seem to understand the purpose of the device. Vinyl knows where to find me at any time anyway, because I actually have a proper schedule." She pronounced the word as /shedyool/. "She on the other hoof, has been known to disappear from time to time, and that just won't do."

"Okay, that makes sense I guess. But what in Princess Celestia is a bass cannon?" Bon Bon asked, and at her words Vinyl beamed and Octavia smirked.

Octavia turned to Vinyl, and said, "Well then, I believe you should explain it considering you did invent it."

The DJ's eyes widened in mock surprise, and answered, "Who, moi? While I may have worked on the technical details, my muse here is the one who gave me the idea. Octy should start."

Octavia sighed and shrugged simultaneously. "Well, if you insist. It was about three months ago, and Vinyl was playing her nonsense," Vinyl started coughing loudly, the word 'dubstep' mixed in with them. "at an intolerable volume again. I asked her if she had a setting that just let her hear her precious 'wubs.'" She looked over at Vinyl, who accepted her cue.

"So I thought to myself: How could I enjoy my beautiful music being blasted on a bass and make sure nopony hears it? The answer came to me in a dream: I turn the sound from a wave into a wave-particle!" Her answer was a room of blank stares. Vinyl rubbed the back of her head. "Okay, some basic science. A wave, like sound, is everywhere in in it's frequency at once. That's why a single wave can be heard by many people. A wave-particle, like light, moves like a wave but is only received at one point. So if I converted my music with unicorn magic, I would be able to listen at full blast and none would be the wiser!"

Lyra cocked her head a little to the side. "So then why does it blast holes through walls? Light doesn't do that."

"Uh," Vinyl said, "I'm still working on the finer details. Right now it's turning the sound into neutrons, not photons like I want. That has the side effect of working like a cannon. So until I fix the flaw, I modified it for weaponry. I added some other normal basses to the side as well, for increased morale and stuff. I'm trying to work out a deal with the diamond dogs, and if it goes through..." Vinyl's eyes seemed to glaze over. "...oh the computer I could buy. "

Octavia rolled her eyes. "You spent months inventing a device that turns sound into massed particles, you are selling said technology for money, and all you can think of is the new gadgets you can buy. Somehow that fits perf—" Out of the darkness of the hole in the wall, a red pole extended fast, going straight through Vinyl's bass cannon.

"No! That's gonna take weeks to rebuild!" Vinyl screamed. The pole suddenly reversed it's motion, retreating back through the wall. Seconds ticked by as the ponies stared at the tear in the wood, terror etched into their faces. Slowly, Sun Wukong walked through the rubble and into the room. His fur was ruffled, his robe was torn, and blood flowed from his ears. But what scared the mares the most was his eyes. There was no thought behind them, only a thick flame of rage. He slowly walked up to Octavia. When he was standing directly in front of her, he reached back his hand. At that second, all the other ponies (who were awake) yelled out. No words were said, just shrieks of emotion. Vinyl stepped in front of the cellist and said, "Don't you touch her!"

The Monkey King's hand was a blur of speed, and before the other mare's eyes could react the two musicians were knocked back through the wall of Town Hall, and across the square. Then Wukong turned again, this time to Lyra. Bon Bon intercepted him, and said, "You are not going to hurt her! I won't let you!" She jumped up, hoof outstretched, as hard as she could, at the monarch. He caught her hoof with his hand, then threw her down at Lyra. When the dust was settled, there was a tear in the floor and the two mares lay in a small crater of dirt.

"You...you monster!" Before Wukong could turn away from his last strike, Derpy rammed into him, flying them both through the hole in the wall and into the Town Square. Derpy stared into the king's eyes with a fire almost as hot as his own burning in her pupils. "You hurt Carrot Top, and Bon Bon, and Octavia, an—" Her rant was stopped with a swift blow to her head, knocking her into the ground.

Sun Wukong looked around him, and yelled out, "I'm just checking to make sure, does anypony else want to sneak attack me before I continue?" Out of the sky above him, a booming voice answered.

"We shall." Before Wukong could look up to investigate, a blast, the color of the night's sky, hit him on the top of his head. The effect was immediate, the immortal king fell to the ground face first. Carrot Top's eyes blinked open now, and she got up shakily to her hooves after breaking her ropes. The six mares shambled over to Wukong's unconscious form, and Princess Luna landed near them.

Bon Bon was the first to speak. "Okay, this is great and everything, but two questions: one, isn't it a little convenient that Carrot Top woke up right now?; and how did Your Highness know to come?"

Carrot Top coughed and answered, "I've actually been awake for a while now. I was hoping I could sneak attack him, but when the time came I barely had enough strength left to break my bonds, not enough to fight."

"And to answer your second question, when Lyra and I retrieved the Bass Cannon from my home, I made a distress call. I used the equipment we use to record our show to send out a quick message asking for somepony to get Princess Celestia to Ponyville, as soon as possible. That's why it took longer than you expected for us to return. I'm not quite sure why it was Princess Luna who showed up though. Not that I'm not grateful for the help Princess!" Octavia quickly added.

Luna let out what seemed to be a chuckle, but several decibels too loud. "Think not of it, subject. Our royal sister is often thought to handle things like this. However, she is sleeping, as the night is mine alone to guard. We were already enjoying the delightful overtures playing on your station when your warning went out." She turned around to the crowd of monkeys staring sadly at their fallen leader. Luna rose up into the sky, her eyes growing with a dark aura. Her voice rang out louder than anypony there had ever heard a pony speak before, "Monkeys! Leave this land now! Go back to your jungles and both not this peaceful town again!" Before she had even finished speaking the monkeys fled as fast as their legs could manage. Luna landed and resumed her normal appearance. She turned to look down at Wukong. "And this villain! The ringleader of the whole affair!"

"No!" Bon Bon shouted. Luna looked at here oddly. "Princess, please do not judge him so harshly! His actions were bad yes, but desperate! His people are in trouble, and he needs to talk with you and Princess Celestia about it soon! Please, Princess, take him to Canterlot and listen to his story! His race's lives hang it the balance!"

Luna looked from Bon Bon to the others. "Do you all feel this way?" Without hesitation, the six ponies nodded as one. "Well, considering your thrilling heroics on this night, my sister and I shall take an audience with him." Her horn glowed a dark blue, and the unconscious ruler levitated onto Luna's back. She flew into the air, and turned back to face her subjects. "Before we depart, we would like to offer a proposition. My sister has her warriors, the Bearers, and they are indeed valiant and noble. But as we have seen tonight they are not always there to 'save the day.' And they are expected and known to the point that fiends now account for them in their schemes. Ponyville, and Equestria, needs a hidden backup. Ponies to stop the darkness during the dark. If you would accept, you six friends would be that group. What do you say?"

The six ponies looked up at their ruler, then at each-other. They were bruised badly, and several undoubtedly had broken bones. Then they looked at the empty cage. In a single voice they answered, "Of course."

It was a day and a half later, Sunday to be precise, when the event occurred. In the intermittent time, the mares shared their hospital room and talked. At around noon of that day, a loud sound came from outside. At the noise, all the ponies stopped talking, and Derpy frowned. Less than a minute later, a brown colt came rushing through the doors, quickly followed by three earth pony mares. His eyes scanned the room then rested on Derpy. "Derpy! You're hurt!" He ran over to her bed. There weren't tears in his eyes, but they definitely weren't dry either. "I'm sorry. I'm so v—"

"No." Derpy looked at him with a perfectly straight face. "No, Doctor. You are not going to blame yourself for this."

"But," The Doctor fumbled, tears moving down his face, "If I had been there, I could have—"

Derpy interrupted him again, steel in her words. "No. I'm not your companion anymore Doctor. The town was under attack and we had to help. If you had been there, maybe a few of us would be in better shape, but that's the past. You weren't there. We were hurt. You need to stop dwelling in the past, excuse the pun." Then she smiled at him.

The Doctor grinned back at her. "Your smiles always were dangerously infectious. I see you've made quite a few more friends."

"Yeah." Derpy turned and looked at the three ponies standing awkwardly, watching the conversation. "Wait, aren't you three the ones who used to run the flower shop?"

The one closest to her spoke up. "Yup. I'm Daisy, and these two are Lily and Rose. You're Derpy Hooves, right? The Doctor mentions you quite often." Derpy blushed. From there it quickly split up into two different conversations.

Carrot Top jumped in. "So, you're a doctor huh? That colt Derpy went off with for, what, a couple days back in 2010?" The Doctor jumped a little, and for the first time noticed Carrot Top sitting in the bed adjacent to Derpy.

"Ah, yes, you must be her friend. Something having to do with carrots, yes? For the record, I'm not 'a doctor,' my name is The Doctor." He reached out with his hoof, and Carrot Top shook it.

Carrot Top grinned tiredly. "Oh, sorry for the mix up. The name is Carrot Top, by the way. Hey, did you know that Derpy sets a place for you every Hearth's Warming Eve?"

Derpy blushed heavily. The Doctor beamed at Derpy. "Is that true?" Then his face sank a little. "How many have I missed?"

"Oh, just one. Carrot was embellishing to embarrass me." Derpy tried to shoot her friend a glare, but the result left a far different reaction then she intended. Carrot burst out laughing. "But you know who did stop by?" The Doctor's blank look answered her. "Blueblood!"

The Doctor laughed jovially. "Really? What was he even doing in Ponyville?"

Derpy rolled her eyes. "He said he was just passing by on the way to his girlfriend's house. Which, I guess is true, but he still stayed for over an hour." Derpy looked at The Doctor with a small frown. "Y'know Doctor, just because I'm not your companion anymore doesn't mean you're not my friend. You can stop by whenever you want. I'd like it if you did. Amethyst asks about you occasionally, and Dinky does at least once a week."

The odd colt thought about it for a moment, then said with a tiny smile, "Of course. I'll show up every once in a while. I have missed you."

Derpy looked at that moment as if she didn't have a care in the world. Then one of her eyes came to rest on the window her bed was next to. "Hay! Wait a second Doctor, did you park the TARDIS right outside?" He nodded an affirmative. She narrowed her eyes at him. "How did you know to come here? Are you telling me the paper warned you about my injury, but not the immanent danger to Ponyville?"

He burst into speech, elongating his first word, "Yeeeeeees, well, that's the funny part. You see, I dropped into Ponyville for a refuel about a week from now, and you passed by where we had parked, your wing in a cast. When I asked about it, you told me to come to this exact time and I'd understand, and now I do! Now, all that needs to happen is you need to remember that in a week you'll see me, and you need to tell me to travel to the Ponyville hospital at 2pm a week ago." Derpy nodded sagely, while Carrot Top just looked confused.

While all that was going on, Octavia struck up a different conversation. "You, you're all traveling with this doctor fellow, right?"

Daisy nodded. "That's a good way to put it. Derpy was one of his traveling companions before us, but we don't really know why she left."

Lyra cocked her head at them. "When you say, 'travel', what do you mean? How do you get around? Where do you go?"

Rose smirked and said, "Well, that's the thing, the question isn't so much 'Where?' as it i—" before she could continue Lily covered her mouth with her hoof.

Impassively, Lily said, "I'm sorry, but we can't discuss how or where we travel. Maybe if you get wrapped up in one of our escapades we can, but for now you're going to have to stay in the dark."

Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Where did you learn to talk, Spider-Mare comics? Does your great power come with great responsibility?" the DJ mocked.

Without a single change in her facial experssion, Lily said, "No. I prefer the Scarlet Scarab personally." Bon Bon jumped in.

"You'll have to excuse Vinyl. She's just a little peeved about the hospital taking her sunglasses. She even tried the, 'They're prescription I swear!' trick." The corners of Lily's mouth turned up ever so slightly.

"Despots..." Vinyl muttered.

Octavia decided to move the conversation along. "So how did you three end up, uh, 'traveling' with this doctor fellow?"

Daisy smiled and said, "Oh, it wasn't too big a thing. He was in town dealing with some, uh, sick ponies. We ran into him, and decided to help him with his, uh, 'curing.' Afterwards he invited us to go with him, and we accepted. Not much of a story really."

Octavia was about to speak when the doors burst open, again. This time is was the Bearers (and Spike), Twilight Sparkle in front. "I'm sorry everypony, we just heard what happened, and—" She stopped as she saw The Doctor talking with Derpy. "Doctor? What are you doing here?"

The Doctor turned and said, "Why Ms. Sparkle! What a surprise seeing you here!" After she gave him an odd look, he stammered out, "w, w, wait! This has nothing to do with me! I just found out my friend here was hurt in the altercation, and came to visit her!"

Twilight nodded, then turned back to the others. Rainbow flew over to Derpy's bed. "Crud, I'm sorry Derpy. We were off partying, and you were here doing our job for us."

Derpy opened her mouth to reply, but Lyra cut her off. "Sorry Rainbow Dash, but that's not true. As Derpy told this doctor colt earlier, what's past is past. You were all enjoying a vacation you rightly deserved. You can't blame yourselves for this any more than he can."

"B, but..." Fluttershy said, "We're supposed to deal with s, scary things like this. You shouldn't have had to do that."

"No." Octavia said. "Twilight, you said in your speech that there are no heroes," Rainbow Dash mouthed to Applejack, "Somepony actually listened to that thing?" and Applejack struggled not to laugh. "and that what you all have done was just what needed to be done. Well, the same is true for us. We were able to help, and we did. That is all."

"She's right girls!" Pinkie Pie said. "Let's face it, we weren't the protagonists this time around! So what? This still calls for a PARTY!" She pulled her trusty party cannon from behind her back, but Rarity grabbed it away from her.

"Pinkie, they're resting right now, and need to stay in bed. You can throw them a soiree once they've healed." Pinkie Pie sighed exaggeratedly, then pushed her cannon into the hallway while grumbling to herself.

"Actually Twilight, could I ask a favor?" Bon Bon asked suddenly.

Twilight smiled brightly. "Of course. After what you all did, it's the least I can do."

"Could I borrow Spike to write and send a letter to somepony?"

"Uh," she said as she thought. "Sure. The only problem is that he can only really send letters to Princess Celestia right now."

Bon Bon gave a weak smile. "Oh, that'll be fine." Twilight's horn glowed as she summoned a quill, an ink pot, and a scroll. She then levitated those to Spike. He dipped the quill in ink, then stood poised to start writing. He looked at Bon Bon expectantly. "Oh, now is when I start? Okay, here I go..."

Dear Princess Luna,

Um, hi there. This is Bon Bon. I know you probably don't remember me, but I'm that earth pony with the candy cutie mark who helped with the monkey problem. Anyway, I thought this ragtag group of ours could send you letters occasionally, to tell you what's gone on and stuff. Anyway...wow I am rambling here. The point! The point is that I learned something important over that crazy adventure, though I guess I already knew parts of it. Anyway, you should never blow up at somepony when you're stressed. Wait, I don't mean you, I mean me. I shouldn't blow up at ponies when I'm stressed. I should try venting that frustration in another way, one that doesn't hurt other pony's feelings. And if I do hurt somepony like that, I shouldn't try and ignore them. The problem won't solve itself. I have to own up to my behavior, and apologize. Who knows, maybe I'll get another friend out of it. I think that about raps this up.

Your, uh, I don't know, citizen?

Bon Bon Sweets

P.S. The Doctor said to say hi.


End file.
